Document WO88/09190 describes a method and apparatus for medical treatment of the pathological state of bones by using shock waves. In practice, the apparatus comprises a lithotriptor comprising a shockwave generator device using a truncated ellipsoidal reflector, with the shock waves being generated at an internal first focus of the truncated ellipsoid and being focused on the external second focus which is caused to coincide with the target to be treated. Detection and location are performed by means of an X-ray generator disposed in an extremely accurate manner relative to the generator. Other similar documents include EP-A-0 324 163 and EP-A-0 324 711 which describe the use of a lithotriptor for fracture treatment, in particular for inducing bone growth.
However, the methods and apparatuses described in the prior art for treatment of bone pathology do not really describe the method of automatically detecting and locating the bony region to be treated. In addition, the technique generally used is the X-ray technique which suffers from the drawback of subjecting the patient to undesirable doses of X-ray irradiation that may have side effects. Radiation dosage may be important insofar as several detection and location tests are necessary during shockwave therapy.
An object of the present invention is thus to solve the novel technical problem consisting in providing a solution enabling detection and location of a bony region to be performed innocuously, i.e. without using X-rays or similar harmful radiation.
Another object of the invention is to solve the novel technical problem mentioned above by implementing a solution for automatically detecting and locating the bony region to be treated, thereby advantageously making this method and apparatus simple to apply in shockwave therapy.
The present invention solves these novel technical problems for the first time in a manner which is particularly simple and which is usable on an industrial scale.